After having the series of group interviews I wanted to have a one on one with each of the three main elders. My questions were asked to get their on personalities out, and to talk about the days before they were Rasafarians. What interested me is they all seemed to have the same type of story. The fist man I interviewed was Benjamin.
He told me about what he used to do before he became a Rastafarian, he was heavily involved in mandrax and drinking. He admitted that his parents were ashamed of his actions. He started school at the age of fifteen, with school came Raggea music. He had a fascination for it. He started talking to a local elder who was a Rastafari, and soon he was growing dreadlocks. His dreadlocks were so long that his teachers started complaining about them. He was warned that if he were to leave them he would be expelled. Two weeks later he was asked to leave his school at the age of nineteen. He was in standard five. Once he was out of school he followed the Rastafarian life, straight away he stopped mandrax and alcohol, and his parents embraced him as a Rastafarian. He married a woman who did not believe in his culture and repeatedly drank. Benjamin divorced her two years later simply because she was not Rastafarian. This astounded me. He is so stubborn in his views that he was willing to throw away his wife ad education for his religion. But to him these aspects meant nothing to him compared to the works of Jah. Ben was one of the most right wing Rastafarians I have ever met. He moved to Kenton because of the beautiful countryside and the fact that he wanted to spread the word of Jah rastafari. For trade he sells all types of things, chocolate, fruit, vegetables and of course marijuana. There were literally five customers who walked in to buy ‘the holy herb’ while I was there. He lives with his new girlfriend, and is teaching her the rastafarian way of life. His nephew, Ilum, also lives in their two roomed shack. Ilum will be able to make his choice of religion when he is around fourteen. But I feel he is already living the Rastafarian life as he is constantly surrounded by the Rastafarian way. After an intense hour with Benjamin I was off to Port Alfred to talk to the other two Rastafarians. Jased and Judah.
Jased’s house was the second pit stop. Like Benjamin’s it was a two bedroom shack. He constantly has Rastafarian music in the background, and has hundreds of DVD’s on the Rastafarian way. He is the most informative Rastafarians, and is appointed as the treasurer of their Rastafarian community. Judah is a tall, well built man who lives with his Rastafarian wife, Queen Grace. She too is learning the religion but seems more involved than Benjamin’s girlfriend. There seemed to be a strong grip over the women in the family Rastafarian culture. Jased’ss story is much like Benjamin’s. He too drank and smoked cigarettes. It amazes me how smoking cigarettes is out of the question, but marijuana is perfectly fine. Judah even went as far as saying he used to get the women in the taverns drunk and “do bad things with them”. He assured me he never raped a woman, but in the Rastafarian culture sex before marriage is frowned upon. In the “Babylon” society Judah works as a caddy at the local golf club. This he has to do to support his wife. He assures me that he does not smoke ganja on the job, only after when he praises Jah. I am not too sure if I believe him though. Jased is a very humble man and always thanks me for helping the Rastafarians in their ‘daily struggle’. About half an hour passed and Judah walked in to Jased’s house. It was time for his interview, which I illustrated was compulsory to have at his own house. I feel the interviewees were more comfortable in their own homes.
Judah was in a tizz. His equipment at the carpentry shop he works at was stolen the night before. He kept cursing the thieves, and illustrated that if the whole world were Rasta, this would never happen. He has been working as a carpenter in Port Alfred for over five years, where before he was a petrol attendant, even with his dreadlocks he adds. Judah takes me to his house, even deeper into the location. He was one of the fortunate few who were given an RDP house, but inside I see he isn’t that fortunate, it has cracks as wide as my thumb, and the establishment has only been up for two years. Out of all the Rastafarians, Judah has had the hardest life. He has a child with a woman who he loved very much but ran off with another man, had a baby with him and then passed away with ‘chest pains’. He tells me he trusts no one after she used and abused him. He said she was a drunkard but he loved her never the less. Judah tells me that women love Rastafarians because they are loving people, who don’t drink or beat their wives. But the women take advantage of this. He also said he was deceived in jobs before he was a Rastafarian, and generated a lot of hate for many people. His brother- who Judah was extremely close to- had a fall out with his family, and left. He found Jah at around the age of twenty one. He, too drank away his sorrows, but now he turned to Jah. He also used to box at the local Port Alfred boxing club. He was actually so good he won the ‘fly’ weight in the area. He admitted he used to box when high on ganja. His coach actually started despising him when he started becoming a Rastafarian and refused to coach him anymore because he smoked weed. This was the only time he was outcasted as a Rastafarian, he is very lucky because all the jobs he has worked at don’t mind Rastafarians. He doesn’t box anymore because Rastafarians are not allowed to engage in any kind of violence. All he wants now is a wife to call his own, yet he has trouble trusting women after what his last wife had done. Sadly, it was getting dark I was forced to leave for home. But the days events were extremely interesting. All three men had very similar stories, they all had hardships before they became Rastafarians, and, despite the fact that they are still going through hard times their intense faith has led them to believe it will get better.
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